Troy Aikman and Rent a Center commercials

Is he hard up for money?   Alimony?  Child Support?  Poor investments?    What is the heck is a fairly likeable guy doing making commercials for a place that rents tv's for $19.99 a week?   I understand Hulk Hogan...we know his troubles.  He's probably still paying off the boob jobs of his women but Troy?

I hate places like Rent a Center & pawn shops & pay day loans & title loans.   Why don't they make them put "Loan Shark" on the sign?   A bank is not allowed to charge the kind of interest these places charge so how do they get by with it?  And a guy doing it in a back alley would be arrested.   And they are cropping up everywhere.  When I was working, I could count 5 on the road between my house and work.    They put a poor person deeper and deeper in the hole.  How can anyone get ahead?

One of the commercials has a guy who actually says something like "Yeah, the interest is high but there is no credit check".     Geez.  

Here is a suggestion:
Don't buy it if you have to borrow money from one of these places to pay for it!!  

Holiday Recipes ~~ Chocolate Pie

Chocolate Pie

Filling:

1 C Sugar

6 T flour

1/4 t salt

2 T cocoa

2 egg yolks

2 C milk

2 T butter

1 t vanilla

Mix dry ingredients together;  combine egg yolks & 1 c milk in a pan, then add dry ingredients.  Add other cup of milk and cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly.   Remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla.  Pour into cooked pie shell, top with meringue & put under broiler until meringue is slightly browned, watching all the time because it will brown quickly

Meringue:

3 egg whites

6 T sugar

Beat until egg whites are peaked, adding sugar gradually during beating.    Put all the way to the edges of the pie crust.  

Big thanks to Andy Holcomb (DeAnn's husband) for this recipe.  It is as good as my mom's but mom never used a recipe so I could not learn from her.  I never had her cooking instincts.    The pie, to me, is perfect when the meringue is lightly browned with little beads on it and my favorite piece is the 1st one, when it is slightly warm.   Then my favorite piece is the rest of the pie.   This is my favorite dessert, hands down.

Holiday Recipes ~~~ Ginger Cookies

Ginger Cookies


Mix together:
2/3 C Oil 
1 C Sugar
1 egg
1/2 C molasses


Sift together:
2 C flour
2 tsp soda
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon


Add dry ingredients to wet mixture.   Roll into 1 inch balls, bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes, 350 degree oven.   Makes 42-48 cookies.

Holiday Recipes ~~~ Buttermilk Pie

Buttermilk Pie




3 Eggs, beaten well
2 C Sugar
3 Tbsp Flour
1/2 C Butter
1 C Buttermilk
1 tsp Lemon flavoring




Mix in order, pour into pie crust, and bake at 350 until set, about 45 minutes.  Makes 2 pies.   Can be frozen for later,great cold.




Courtesy of Nelda Brown

Holiday Recipes ~~~ Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin Roll


3 Eggs
1 C Sugar
2/3 C Canned Pumpkin
1 tsp Lemon Juice


Sift together:
3/4 C Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Ginger
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Salt
1 C finely chopped pecans   (ok, add those AFTER sifting)\


Filling:
1 C Powdered Sugar
4 Tbsp butter
6 oz Cream Cheese
1/2 tsp Vanilla


1.  Preheat oven to 375.  Grease & flour 15x10x2 inch jelly roll pan.  Line pan with waxed paper.
2.  Beat eggs at high speed for 5 minutes.  Gradually add sugar.  Stir in pumpkin & lemon juice.
3.  Fold sifted ingredients into pumpkin mixture.  Spread batter in pan and sprinkle with pecans.  Bake for 15 minutes & remove from oven.  Let cake sit in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out on a clean tea towel sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Peel off wax paper.  While cake is still warm, roll in towel lengthwise.
4.  Beat filling ingredients until smooth.  When cake is cool, unroll and spread with filling.  Re-roll without towel, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.  


Serves 10

The Real Thing

A younger man comes into the store and is buying perfume.  Maybe a birthday or anniversary or maybe he just wants to get lucky.  He spends his $50 and leaves.

A little old man comes into the store who always has bottles with him of whatever his wife sends him for...lotion, deodorant, makeup...and he walks around and compares the bottles, trying to get what she wants.   I try to help him when I can because he is the the sweetest thing...he tells me his wife has trouble walking and is in the car.  She is a lucky girl.

I hope the younger man and woman get to experience love to last a lifetime like the older couple because that's the real thing!!

Pet Peeve

Why do parents bitch at children and then do nothing about it?   A lady was in the store yesterday with a 2 year old (an age where they don't understand bitching anyway) and the kid was standing up in the basket seat and reaching for something while his grandmother was going "stop it.  ...no...don't touch...stop it".   First of all, not really getting through to the 2 year old but here is my deal:

 Do something about it or stop bitching at them!!!


My mom took us out of stores enough as children until we learned how to behave in a store.  We all knew coming inside was a privilege that could and would be removed at any minute if we abused it.  We learned this lesson early on.  

Rangers Lose

I am so sad, but as my friend Holly says:

The stars at night are ALWAYS big and bright; deep in the heart of Texas! Still so very proud of those Texas Rangers!!

Tootsies

I could not believe when I got to work today that there still a bag of Tootsie Rolls Halloween candy left and it was half price.  I love Tootsies!!  But there is a problem.   The bag said 5 different sizes...

So although I have this:

Woohoo!!

Inside, I only find this:

Where is number 5?

I guess I'll survive!!